Following her death on Thursday (Sept. 8), Chilliwackians are reminiscing about Queen Elizabeth.
She reigned as British monarch for seven decades, and toured Canada many times.
But only twice did she visit Chilliwack. The first was a blink-and-you-missed-it 13 minute stopover in 1951, when she was still Princess Elizabeth. The second was in 1959, and it was a far bigger deal. Six years into her reign, the 33-year-old was joined by Prince Philip on a 45-day 24,000 kilometre tour that brought her to Chilliwack on July 14.
According to a detailed account on the Chilliwack History Perspectives Facebook page, drawn from Chilliwack Progress coverage in 1959, Queen Elizabeth rolled into town around 9 p.m. on a 16-car CN Rail passenger train. She was due to spend a tightly-scripted hour in Chilliwack, 45 minutes of it devoted to a motorcar tour.
After she arrived, the Queen did a brief ‘walkabout’ followed by a welcoming ceremony.
“My mom was chosen to give the Queen a bouquet of flowers,” Chris Franklin wrote on Facebook.
According to a Chilliwack Progress article from July 15, 1959, the welcoming ceremony included the Queen and Prince Philip signing the Municipal Book.
“A pen which had been paid out for their use apparently was hidden in the end pages of the book and the Queen for a moment paused uncertainly as she looked around for it,” the article noted. “A member of the royal party moved forward to offer a pen and a spectator ducked through the ropes and ran forward with one, too.
“It was the Prince, smiling proudly, who helped the Queen out of her predicament by pulling his own pen out of an inside pocket.”
Before arriving, the Queen had indicated interest in seeing Chilliwack’s agricultural scene, and a 19-kilometre car tour was planned. It started on Nowell Street and ran through Five Corners before carrying on to more rural areas.
Around 25,000 people lined the route, representing essentially the entire population of the City of Chilliwack (7,600) and Township of Chilliwack (17,300). According to Chilliwack History Perspectives, the Queen’s car crept along at five to eight kilometres during the downtown portion of the tour, giving locals a better chance to catch a glimpse. Street corners were packed, with people lined up five deep.
“I lived on Bonny Avenue then and remember standing at the corner of Young Road North when the Queen and Philip drove past heading for Fairfield Island,” wrote Sharon Watson. “I can even remember what I wore! It was a real thrill back then!”
Seventy RCMP members gathered downtown, dressed in formal scarlet, joined by 400 soldiers from CFB Chilliwack. They saluted as the royal cavalcade rolled past. On Young Road North, near Central School, a large group of Brownies, Cubs, Boy Scouts, Girl Guides, and Canadian Girls in Training (CGIT) members gathered to wave Union Jack flags.
“The evening became cooler and darker, but enthusiasm remained high,” the Progress article observed. “It was dark by the time the royal cavalcade re-appeared in the downtown area about 9:45 after traveling through the Fairfield farming district, by Dayton’s pool, farmers’ pea fields, drying hay, ripening cornfields and orchards.”
After returning to the CNR station the Queen and Prince Philip stood on the rear deck of the train and waved to the crowd as it pulled out, heading for New Westminster.
Prince Philip took a memento with him as he departed. During the tour he was presented with a copy of the Chilliwack Progress by Royal Canadian Navy Commander A.S. Conway Kilgard. That issue, from May 31, 1939, included a picture of Kilgard that was taken with King George VI and the Queen Mother during a royal visit that year.
The Prince asked Commander Conway if he could have the copy.
“I was delighted and the Prince put the paper in his pocket,” Conway said in the 1959 Progress article.
Queen Elizabeth last came to Canada in 2010. She died Thursday (Sept. 8) at the age of 96.
@ProgressSports
eric.welsh@theprogress.com
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